The Temple of Met in Asher. By Margaret Benson and
Janet Gourley. Inscriptions and Translations by Percy E. Newberry. Illustrated. (John Murray. 21s.)—This is an account of the excavation of a temple lying between Luxor and Karnak. It is rather out of the beaten track, and was not well known till Miss Benson and Miss Gourley began t,o dig there. The account of the difficulties they met with when they began the work is pleasanter to read than it can have been to experience. The Arabs were tiresome to deal with at all times, but particularly so when they were keeping the Fast of Ramadan, which lasts for a month. They also had to cope with unscrupulous tourists who tried to induce the workmen to sell them heads of statues, or any easily carried objects. The temple, dedicated to the goddess Mut, the Lady of Asher, stands on a prorasntory jutting into a horseshoe-shaped lake. It was probably founded by the great King Amenemhat, who belonged to the eleventh dynasty, about 277S-2748 B.C., of whom - they have found a small statue, and though part of it is broken, they were able to make out the name. The chief character- istic of this temple is the number of statues, most of them bearing inscriptions which have been deciphered. "The in scriptions are very much alike and may be said roughly to consist of three parts : first, we have the names and titles of the person represented, with the names of his parents ; secondly, the record of his acts and honours; and thirdly, a prayer that all things good and pure,' whether so ethereal as the smelling of the sweet north wind,' or so material as thousands of bread and beer and oxen and geese,' whether so exalted as 'glorification, power, justification,' so ambiguous as the gift of a sharp countenance,' or so refined as fine linen, incense, and all flowers,' that these should be given by the Lady of the Lake herself, or other gods and goddesses, to the Ka' of the person represented and named.". The part of man's personality represented by the Ka "has not, as some other parts of the man, an essential and independent ;mmortality," and when death has separated it from the body it still wishes for food and a dwelling place, and, in fact, all the good gifts of the gods, or, more properly speaking, the Kas of all these things. These were en- sured to,it by the sacrifice* the inscriptions, and the paintings in the temples. But on this subject of religion we mu3t refer the reader to the book itself, where he will find an interesting account of "the wisdom of the Egyptians." The temple is connected with the poli- tical history of the country at many points. Perhaps the most interesting period is that of the Queen Hatshepsut, and the great Minister, Sen-lktut, about 1500 B.C. As the consequence of peace at hoine and abroad this time was rich in temple building. This is what the Queen writes :—" Oh, ye who see my monument in the course of years, and converse of what I have done, beware of saying I know
not, I know not, why these things were done.' Verily the
two great obelisks that my majesty has wrought with electrum,
they are for my father Amen, to the end that this temple should remain established for ever and ever." Sen-Mut combined the
qualities of a great statesman with those of an artist and an archi-
tect. He seems to have been a man of humble origin, but he rose to great power and was called the "glorious friend" of the Queen ;
but we must again refer the reader to the book itself for the account of him and his contemporaries. The volume is illustrated by a number of photographs, besides plans of the temple.
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